by Liz Peters
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Debbie was kicking herself for the rest of the night about what had happened back at the office today. Jamie was amazing at his job, and to be honest, he had a million great ideas that were only going to make the office run better than it ever had before. And of course, she'd gone off half-cocked, yelling at him and then kissing him. Debbie half expected Jamie to call her and tender his resignation at any moment now.
She'd thought for half a moment that he'd wanted the kiss as much as she had. At least he'd returned it, wrapping his arms around her to pull her in closer until the moment he'd come to his senses and pulled away. There was no telling what he was really thinking. But he'd made sure to avoid her for the rest of the day until she came to find him and give him her number in case he needed her while she was out. Debbie was pretty certain he was going to do just fine without her, but just in case, she wanted him to be able to contact her.
In reality, she wanted him to contact her for a lot more than just a few questions around the office, but that seemed like it was going to be a long shot. She would have gladly gone out to dinner with Jamie and risked whatever was going on between the two of them getting more intense. Instead, she was just curled up on her couch mindlessly watching television with another glass of wine and some Chinese food she’d picked up to go on her way home from the office. She was really starting to think she should get a cat to keep her company since it seemed like nothing else was going to happen around here. She’d even pulled up the website for the local animal shelter on her phone and started browsing through the animals that were available for adoption at the moment.
She was distracted by the fact that her lips were still burning from the kiss that the two of them had shared hours ago and the way her body was just screaming to have his arms around her again. Debbie had no idea what she was going to do when she finally had to go back to work. Things at school were awkward enough with the way everything had gone down with Joshua Brennan. Now work was going to be just as awkward until she knew he didn’t hate her for pulling him down into that stupid kiss. Her cheeks burned almost as much as her lips every time she thought about how the two of them had fit together so perfectly.
She hadn’t expected the text message that actually came through. Her heart jumped at the sound of the notification that flashed up on the screen, and Debbie nearly dropped the glass she’d been holding when it broke the quiet that had settled around the room when she’d turned the television off. She moved to open it without reading who it was from because she didn’t want to disappoint herself when it was just the local pizza place sending her the weekly specials instead of what she’d really wanted.
When the message opened up on her screen it was from Professor Brennan who she’d saved as simply Joshua in her phone. Usually those messages had the effect of making her feel a little fluttery. Tonight, she was just a little annoyed that it hadn’t been from Jamie. It made her feel stupid to expect a man to text her who clearly had no interest in her and instead of replying to the message “How are you tonight, my lovely girl?” with whatever popped into her mind to say to Joshua she just threw the phone back face down on the couch and decided to call it a night. Maybe tomorrow would be a better day.
Chapter Eleven
Reid had come home from work that night a little later than usual, but even so, he was slightly surprised to see that Samantha had beaten him home from work. He knew today was the first day that her new office manager was starting, so maybe having some help around the office had been enough to make sure that she’d been able to get out of the place earlier than usual. That was the reason behind hiring someone new after all, right? At least that was what he was telling himself, but when he walked into the house to find the table in the dining room set for dinner with a pair of lit candles at the center he wasn’t exactly certain what was going on.
Sam was nowhere to be seen, but she could have just been in the kitchen beyond where he could see. He didn’t hear her anywhere within earshot though so he called out for his wife.
“Sam? Legs? You here?” His voice echoed around the house and came back to his ears before he heard a noise from upstairs followed by her voice coming from the stairwell.
“I’ll be right down. Have a seat ok? I’ve got something I need to talk to you about.”
Reid felt his heart go into his throat again. He didn’t know what his wife could possibly want to talk to him about that could be good. Had she finally come to her senses and realized that she was married to a total schmuck and decided to change her mind? Or had something gone completely wrong at the office today and she needed to tell him about whatever problem she’d had?
Reid knew he could stand there and make a million guesses about all of it and never hit on whatever she was going to tell him as soon as she came in the room, so he might as well sit down and just wait on her to break the news to him. He plopped into his normal chair, resting his elbows on the table and watching the flames dance on top of the candles at the center. Dinner was nowhere to be seen, and nothing appeared to be cooking in the kitchen, so he couldn’t have told you why the candles were lit. All he could do was wait for Sam to explain whatever was going on.
The sounds of her moving around upstairs continued for the next five minutes before he heard her come down the stairs slowly and make her way into the dining room. Her face bore a nervous expression. He could see that she was terrified by the way the corners of her eyes wrinkled as soon as she caught sight of him. She had something to tell him, and she was nervous about how he was going to take it. He knew that just from looking at her.
“Legs, I don’t know what all the surprise is all about, but whatever it is you can just spit it out. Nothing is going to change how I feel about you. Not even you deciding that you can do better or wanting to move back to the city. I love you, plain and simple. That’s all it is.” He nodded and motioned for her to come over to where he was sitting.
Sam walked over without saying a single word and settled into his lap. She ran her fingers into her hair.
“I don’t know how to tell you this. It isn’t something that we ever discussed before now, and I have no idea how you’re going to feel about it. I’m scared and nervous and happy and overwhelmed all at once, but I have to tell you. I have to share it with you whatever happens.”
Reid was even more confused now that she’d started talking. Sam was trying to dance around the subject. That much was obvious, and all it was doing was making him even more lost.
“Just spit it out, Legs. I promise, whatever it is, I’ve got you.”
She nodded before burying her face in his neck and mumbling something that he couldn’t quite make out.
“I couldn’t hear you, Baby girl. What did you say?” Reid turned his head to try and angle his ear towards her mouth just in time to make out the next words out of her mouth.
“I’m pregnant.”
Time stopped moving for a moment after his brain registered what she was trying to tell him.
“You’re what?”
The shock was setting in. He’d always known this was a possibility, but it wasn’t something the two of them had talked about, even after they’d gotten married. Kids might have been a future possibility for the two of them, but they’d just gotten married and Sam was just starting up a law office. She wasn’t going to have time to handle all of that and be pregnant too was she? He started to panic, but his panic settled into awed surprise as she worked up the courage to press a kiss to his lips.
“You know you’re cute when you’re in a complete and total shock right?” She laughed and shook her head. “I’m pregnant, Reid. We’re having a baby. I just found out this afternoon, and you’re the first person I told. My mom, Debbie, no one else knows. I figured you ought to be the first since you’re the father and everything.” She was trying to laugh, but he could hear how scared she was behind the front she was trying to put on. It was his job to make sure she had nothing to be afraid of.
“Baby girl. W
e’re having a baby. I can’t think of anything that I’d like more than to have a family with you. I’ve got you, whatever happens, just know that, ok? I’m not going anywhere, and it’s going to take more than just you telling me that you’re having my kid to get rid of me.” He stole a kiss off her lips before wrapping his arms around his wife to pull her in firmly against his chest.
The two of them sat there like that for a long time before either of them even tried to move. He knew she just needed to be close to him for a while. He needed her just as much. Having a baby was a lot to put on the both of them, but Reid figured that Sam could do anything that she put her mind to. She was good at being a lawyer, good at everything she tried to do. There was no reason she wasn’t going to be just as amazing at all of this.
Reid hadn’t had much of an example of being a dad, but he knew exactly what not to be. He could work out the rest from there as long as he had Sam to help him out. He was just as surprised that he was the first to know as he had been about the news itself. Usually Debbie was the first to know everything simply because she spent more of her day with Sam. When something happened, Debbie was usually there and part of it, but things had been different since she’d started school. The redhead had a lot on her plate these days, and maybe he shouldn’t have been surprised that he’d gotten the news before she did.
“So, do we tell everyone or keep this to ourselves for a little while?” Reid leaned forward to press a kiss to the tip of Sam’s nose when the two of them finally moved out of the positions they’d adopted as soon as she’d come off the stairs.
“I think we should keep it to ourselves for now. I’m not very far along, and you never know how things are going to turn out. I’d hate to jinx it by announcing it to the world too soon, you know?”
Reid nodded and stole another kiss. He was scared, but his heart was full with everything that happened to him in the last year.
“Hey, Mrs. Spencer?” She smiled as he called his wife her formal married name. It was one of the habits he’d picked up after the two of them had been married, though he only called her that when he was being especially affectionate.
“Yeah, Mr. Spencer?”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“What do you say we go grab some take-out and crash on the couch while we watch stupid old movies until we pass out?” It was one of Sam’s favorite things to do. She said it reminded her of the time he’d come to visit her back in the city after the two of them had first gotten together. He had to admit he enjoyed it too, even if he’d never have said it in front of Matty for fear of being teased about it for the rest of his life.
She nodded, and he scooped her up in his arms, carrying her off into the next room to settle for the night while the two of them talked about the rest of their lives together.
Chapter Twelve
A week had passed at his new job, and Jamie had probably had one of the longest weeks of his life. At least knowing that you had a thing for your boss wasn’t as bad as having to work for your ex. If he could make it through that, he could make it through anything, but it had been a trial. Getting to know Samantha Spencer had helped. She was a brilliant lawyer. There was no denying that. Watching her work told him everything he needed to know about that. This was going to be a good place to work now that Debbie had given him the freedom to run the office as he saw fit. She mostly stayed out of his way and only worked with him when he had a new way of doing things he needed to show her on the odd days when she was in the office.
He was half hoping she’d challenge him on something again. He couldn’t say how much he enjoyed the look on her face when she was angry. It was probably one of the sexiest things he had ever seen. Instead, she’d seemed almost artificially calm, like it was some kind of front she’d been putting on every single day since his first one.
Today was one of the days she wasn’t going to be in the office. She went to classes on Tuesday and Thursday, and the office seemed like an almost vacant space without her. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Sam. He did, and he enjoyed his job helping her out. Goodness knows, she needed all the help she could get being the only lawyer in a town of almost seven thousand. People came in here for everything from buying a house and needing someone to cover the real estate paperwork to getting a divorce or handling criminal charges. She had to be good at a little bit of everything, and she was. He hadn’t expected that from her. He had expected her to be good at one thing. Most lawyers were. They specialized in contracts or divorces or something similar and only had a passing knowledge of the rest of things, but Sam had it all down. Doing so many different things just meant that she needed all the help she could get with the minute details of things like doing research, typing up paperwork and billing. It was why he and Debbie were both so important to the way things worked around here, and it was also why Debbie being gone two days a week to take classes meant that they needed him there full time and maybe even more so.
He didn’t mind working hard. He enjoyed it. It kept his mind off other things, except when he got so distracted by Debbie being around the office that he forgot how to think. Today it had been him getting distracted by the fact that Debbie was nowhere to be seen, and that she hadn’t answered his text message asking where the file for the Parks divorce was which meant she was probably in class. He knew she had a thing for one of her professors. He had overheard a conversation or two between Sam and Debbie enough to know that.
Jamie hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, but the walls were thin. Things were easy to overhear around here, especially when the two of them had a habit of talking over coffee with Sam’s office door wide open. They were clearly old friends. He had learned a few days ago that Samantha moved here to be with her husband and that Debbie had come along to help her start her business here after the two of them had quit their jobs at a big-name law firm in another state. Debbie hadn’t made a lot of friends since they’d gotten here. She didn’t have a lot in common with the housewives whose husbands worked at the ranches around the town, and she had almost nothing in common with the townie girls who liked flirting with the cowboys at the diner during the day and the only bar in town at night. He was so distracted thinking about Debbie that he hadn’t even heard the front door open until a blonde-haired cowboy half covered in dust walked into the room.
“Hi, umm. Can I help you?” He had never met this guy before, but he looked absolutely comfortable in the space.
“Yeah, Sam busy?” The stranger nodded towards the closed office door behind him.
“She’s got a client in right now.” The other man nodded a little and shoved his hands in his pockets.
“And I reckon Debbie is in class today.”
“She’s out on Tuesdays and Thursdays.” At this point, Jamie narrowed his eyes trying to place the man in front of him. His face looked familiar, but he couldn’t place it. He was certain he’d never met this man before.
“Yeah, that’s right. Legs told me that like two weeks ago.”
“Legs?” He was guessing Legs was supposed to be Sam, but he had no idea.
“Sorry… I mean Sam. It gets hard to sort out who knows her as what name sometimes.”
It was right about that moment that he realized who this guy was. He had seen him before, but only in the pictures that sat on Sam’s desk of her wedding.
“Oh god, you must be Mr. Spencer.” Jamie pushed up from his desk and offered the other man his hand for a handshake. Reid took his hand with a laugh, giving it a firm shake.
“Yeah, except every time I hear Mr. Spencer, it reminds me of my grandfather. You can just call me Reid.” He smiled and settled into one of the chairs on the other side of Jamie’s desk to wait for Sam to be free. “I popped in to see if my wife wanted to go to the cafe across the street and get some lunch. You think she’s going to be much longer?”
The client that was in her office had been there for a little over an hour working on getting some paperwork signed for the sale of a house
. Those things didn’t usually take much longer than that, so he couldn’t imagine that they’d be in there too long. He glanced down at the list of meetings that Sam had for the rest of the day before answering.
“They should be out soon. If you have time to wait, I’m sure she’d be glad to go get something with you. She’s been swamped this morning, but she doesn’t have another appointment for another couple of hours.”
“I’ll wait. They won’t give me too hard a time for taking a long lunch break back at the ranch. One of the perks of being married and stable and all that.” He laughed. He could see why Sam had liked Reid, even if the two of them did appear to be opposites. If asked, he’d have to admit that Reid was handsome, but there was more to it than that. He was friendly, and he could tell from the look in the other man’s eyes every time he mentioned his wife that the two of them were very much in love. Jamie was surprised that he hadn’t met the other man before now, but if he worked at one of the ranches out in the country around Colleston, those guys rarely got free time from work to come out and visit their girls in town during the day.
Reid was easy to talk to. Jamie found himself chatting with the other man about how his week had been going since he’d started working here. He had even spilled the beans about why he’d left his last job so suddenly. It was good to have a sympathetic ear, and he was pretty sure that given the chance the two of them could be good friends when the topic of Debbie came up.
“So, how’s Debbie doing at school?” Reid looked up at him from toying with the stapler for a distracted moment to ask the one question that put him on edge.
“Honestly, I couldn’t tell you.” Reid raised an eyebrow at his response, opening his mouth as if to ask a question, but Jamie cut him off before he could get anything out.
